Pages

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Lebkuchen Bars, Speculaas and SinterKlaas - Pink Saturday

Lebkuchen

Speculaas

December 6th is a special day for the children of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. It marks the feast of Sinterklaas, or St. Nicolas, a man remembered for his generosity and love for children and the poor. On the eve of his feast day, the shoes of children are set out for him to fill with candy and other small gifts. Legend has it that Sinterklaas carries with him a book of sins. The shoes of those who have been good are filled with treats, while those of transgressors are filled with twigs. Special cookies are usually served as part of this celebration. They are called speculaas. There are actually two types of this spice cookie. One is soft and chewy, the other is crisp and formed in special embossed molds. Both taste like mild gingerbread. I couldn't let the feast of Sinterklaas pass without making speculaas. I've chosen to make the softer version. The word speculaas comes from the Latin word for mirror. The cookies can be rolled and cut to mirror any shape and that probably explains their name. Speculaas, and their cousins lebkuchen, are wonderful holiday treats and it really is lovely to have them on hand for guests and special Christmas activities.One of my earliest holiday memories is decorating the Christmas tree. Most of the work fell to my father, but when he deemed the tree ready each child, there were three of us, would be given a box of tinsel and allowed to put it on the tree. Even with extended arms, we never made it higher than four feet up the tree. The bulk of the tinsel was on the lower limbs, probably in clumps, because we were anxious to complete the job. The one who finished first got to put the angel on top the Christmas tree and we, even at that tender age, were a competitive bunch. There were of course cookies and eggnog to heal the wounded spirits of those not qualifying for the special honor. I hope you've had the opportunity to try really good lebkuchen and speculaas. If not, I hope you'll try these recipes. These cookies age well if stored in airtight containers. Speculaas...from One Perfect Bite courtesy of Joy of Baking

Directions: 1) Whisk flour, almond meal, baking powder, spices and salt together in a bowl. Set aside. Set aside.2) Combine butter and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer. Cream until light and fluffy. Add egg and lemon zest and beat until well combined. Add flour mixture and beat until combined. Form dough into a round, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Move rack to middle of oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.4) Remove dough from refrigerator and form into 1 inch (2.54 cm) balls. Place balls of dough on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Then, using bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, flatten each ball of dough to 1/4 inch thick (can also use a cookie stamp). Sprinkle each cookie with shaved almonds. Bake for about 10 - 12 minutes, or until lightly browned at edges. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Yield: 3-1/2 dozen cookies.

Lebkuchen Bars...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite Courtesy of Tish Boyle

Directions:1) In a large nonreactive saucepan, combine honey, brown sugar, granulated sugar and butter. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved, butter is melted and mixture just begins to boil. Remove pan from heat; let cool for 15 minutes.2) Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and ginger together in a large bowl. Set aside.3) Stir almonds, candied orange peel, egg, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla and almond extracts into cooled honey mixture. Add dry ingredients and stir until well-blended. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on surface of dough. Cover pan with another piece of plastic wrap. Let dough sit at room temperature overnight.4) Position a rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.5) Place dough in prepared pan and spread it in an even layer. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.6) Meanwhile, make glaze: Whisk confectioners' sugar, orange juice, ginger and vanilla together in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside.7) Remove bars from oven. Place on a wire rack. Spread the glaze over warm bars. Let cool completely before cutting. When cool cut into bars. Yield: 24 bars.

This post is being linked to:Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound

58 comments
:

Lovely childhood memories and it's so nice to celebrate the feast of SinterKlass & the traditions that go with it - it's lovely to read these stories. I think it's going to take me most of the week to get through as many as I can. Thank you for sharing yours.

Mary, leave it to you to make the most beautiful Lebkuchen I've ever seen.

Thanks for sharing your childhood memories of Christmas. I was never very good at tinsel either; always in a hurry. I felt like I was standing there right beside you saying, "let's see who can finish first."

Happy Pink Saturday. Sharing our childhood Christmas has been so much fun.Sam

Mary-- being German we always had German cookies at Christmas -- lebkuchen, those S cookies and springerle. But I also like the speculaas and have made them as well. Love the memories your post brings back!

Mary, My shoes are out on the doorstep waiting for a few of your incredible treats. Both are absolutely wonderful, as is your story of old St. Nicolas. Oh, how I wish our present day holiday was observed with such a simple generous tradition. Many thanks, I can't wait to try these delectable treats.

Mary, these cookies sound wonderful, and I loved hearing your stories. I know that Germans had the first Christmas trees, and they also have some of the most beautiful ornaments.

I'm laughing about the clumps of tinsil. We always wanted to put the tinsil on, but Daddy made sure that we only put one piece on at a time. When he wasn't watching, he sent his lieutinant (sp) who happened to be my mother. ;-)

Thanks for always sharing such a wealth of knowledge and information with us. I love reading what you write as much as looking at the recipes and the delicious food you make.

As always Mary, I enjoyed your story as I enjoyed your recipes. You see, I love and collect cookbooks and read them as others read a novel..and I so love and enjoy your blog. I'm a follower and I look forward each time to seeing a new post of yours..I just wanted you to know how much I enjoy them.. Happy Pinks..have a lovely weekend.

Traditions & Memories are the best. I rember putting the tinsel on the tree each year. Wish they sold that now as I always liked how it looked when the tree lights were on at night. Great recipes and the photos are wonderful.Joyce

My mouth is watering at the sight of those cookies! I must try the recipes. I love your Christmas stories - about SinterKlaas and about decorating your Christmas tree. Thanks so much for sharing them with us! Happy Pink Saturday!

What gorgeous cookies! I've had lebkuchen, but never a lebkuchen bar. I wish SinterKlaas would leave me some in my stocking. I've tried to be very, very good. I'm making a copy of the recipe, though, just in case...

Unfortunately for my waistline I love all the cookies of Christmas and these look so tasty!! I loved tinsel too and remember decorating the tree with it when I was young. Thanks for sharing the memory and the recipes! Happy pink week!!

Hi Mary,Having a wonderful time reading the Christmas stories. I made Lebkuchen one year but since my kids were not big fans of nuts, I never made them again. But Hubby and I sure enjoyed them! Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful week.

I am on that never ending diet. oy.. so I won't be tasting these treats.... maybe for Christmas? I enjoyed your memory... and I can imagine a tree with clumps of tinsel around the bottom and a lovely angel on top. I bet you kids were all angles too:) Blessings!Gwen

It is so great to visit you, I truly enjoyed your story. I visited so many beautiful blogs and enjoying reading everyones memories. Thanks for sharing your love of food with us. Have a great week. Grace

Hi Mary, all I can say is YUM YUM YUM..I am going try one or ALL of your recipes this year..YUM again!Thanks for visiting my memory. I always like to say we did not have Norman Rockwell holiday. ever. But they were OUR holidays and still fond memories! Have a great week! Barb

What a great memory and wow, the cookies look wonderful as does that meatball sub above! It's hard to visit you and still stay on my weight watcher diet, I get hungry instantly! Happy late Pink Saturday! Suzie

I remember hearing those stories as a kid. My background is very German and my mother taught in Germany for several years. She brought many traditions back with her and shared them with us kids in the years to come. One of my favorites was eating the Lebkuchen! It was so delicious! I am actually getting ready to go to Germany for Christmas this year and looking very forward to some authentic German Lebkuchen!

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Privacy Policy

This blog does not share personal information with third-parties nor does it store information about your visit for use other than to analyze content performance through the use of cookies, which you can turn off at anytime by modifying your Internet browser's settings. Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a a users prior visits to this website. Google's use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads. This blog is not responsible for the republishing of the content found here on other Web sites or media without the owners permission. This privacy policy is subject to change without notice